Urban Beach Week - Safe Hotel

[notthatpaulyd]

Hello,

 

I am departing on NCL May 24, and will be arriving in Miami on May 23. Looking for a hotel on SoBe to stay at, but am reading that there is an "Urban Beach Week" starting that same day... (that apparently attracts quite a bit of crime and sends residents fleeing)...

 

Is there any validity to what I'm reading? Is there somewhere safe to stay in Miami Beach that day?

[fishywood]

Well if you are dead set on staying in Miami Beach and your budget allows, you could stay mid-beach at the Fontainebleau or the Miami Beach Resort and Spa (formerly the Doral Beach Hotel) which are outside the Urban Beach visitor's price range. But there would hardly be any point to this since South Beach will be completely off limits to anyone who values their health or sanity. If you somehow chose to stay at a SoBe hotel you wouldn't get a lick of sleep--the lawlessness reigns 24/7 despite every available municipal, county and state LEO being deployed there. Whatever you have read about Urban Beach Weekend you can multiply by 10 and still not be exaggerating. Bars and restaurants have had such a huge problem with walkouts that many of them will just cut their losses and close on a holiday weekend!

 

I grew up in Miami Beach and have friends still living there--all of whom get out of town every Memorial Day weekend. And I have been in Virginia Beach during their Urban Week: it is crowded and noisy but everyone was peacefully enjoying themselves. It pains me to have to say otherwise about my hometown.

Edited January 23, 2014 by fishywood

[BlueHerons]

Hello,

 

I am departing on NCL May 24, and will be arriving in Miami on May 23. Looking for a hotel on SoBe to stay at, but am reading that there is an "Urban Beach Week" starting that same day... (that apparently attracts quite a bit of crime and sends residents fleeing)...

 

Is there any validity to what I'm reading? Is there somewhere safe to stay in Miami Beach that day?

 

You don't want to go anywhere near South Beach during that weekend.

 

Think Spring Break in Panama City and yes, it is bad.

 

I would suggest one of the nicer beach hotels in Mid Beach or north. Aqualina, Trump, Eden Roc, Fountainbleu, Westin Diplomat, or the Ritz Carlton on Key Biscayne.

[brunello22]

I concur - stay away from South Beach that weekend. I lived on South Beach for a few years and would head out of town for Memorial Day weekend, as I didn't feel safe in my own neighborhood.

[BlueHerons]

I got caught in it 2001 the year it exploded. Miami Beach PD had given everyone the weekend off and were running with a skeleton crew because Memorial Weekend was typically dead. And 450,000 showed up in South Beach to celebrate Urban/Hip Hop Weekend.

 

For photos to see what it is really like, go to http://www.BlackBeachWeek.com and click on the appropriate link for photos.

[brunello22]

I got caught in it 2001 the year it exploded. Miami Beach PD had given everyone the weekend off and were running with a skeleton crew because Memorial Weekend was typically dead. And 450,000 showed up in South Beach to celebrate Urban/Hip Hop Weekend.

 

For photos to see what it is really like, go to www.BlackBeachWeek.com and click on the appropriate link for photos.

 

Thanks for sharing the link. I had a good laugh when I saw an advert for Azamara Cruises. Uh, not quite the target audience! Very funny! :D